Monday, October 15, 2012

Another week is upon us! Did anybody else see Maattrraan? Or anything else this weekend? It seems almost everything up North was a dud. Oh, well... in the world of films there is always next Friday.

* It's bad news all around for Rani has Aiyyaa has failed to make a mark AND, oh yeah, her brother was arrested for sexually assaulting an actress. Besides just being angry at yet another scumbag in the industry, I'd be furious if I was Rani that my name would get dragged into this awful story.

* Interesting - there will be no injunction against Prakash Jha's Chakrayvuha in the case filed by industrialist Basant Kumar Birla for allegedly defaming him by featuring his name in a song.

The disputed lines of the song "Mehngaai" is - Seedhe raste chaloge to aisa dhamaka milega jhopdi mein Birla aur Tata milega aur Bata ki dukaan mein bhi aata milega. Loosely translated meaning of the line could be - If you follow the righteous path, you may find the Tatas and Birlas in slum and you may get flour in the shops of the Batas.

I feel like this is usually the kind of line that would just be left out to avoid trouble... interesting that it's allowed to stay in.

* Another court case - this time against the KLPD filmmakers. It seems the producers have failed to pay one of the funders back. Possibly because the Vivek Oberoi-Mallika Sherawat film was a massive flop.

He said that, even though he doesn't know how much money the producers made or lost in the film, he wanted his money back plus the 12 per cent interest also, as he funded the film simply because he wanted the additional money.

I think there's a very thin line between copying and adapting. I think its okay to use material from earlier films. As long as it doesn't hurt the original creator we can use it.

Can you give me an example?

In so many films of mine I've used scenes and shots inspired by earlier films. My Maryada Ramanna (now remade into Son Of Sardar) was inspired by a 1923 Buster Keaton silent film Our Hospitality. One could say I copied the film. I don't mind. When I saw the original I liked it so much I wanted to re-tell the same story on my own way. I even tried to find the original creators. But no one existed. The original writers died in the 1930s. Technically any material that has existed for more than 75 years can be used without a copyright claim. But if you use material in Hindi film from a contemporary Punjabi, Oriya or Telugu film you need to take permission.

It's nice to see a director talking so frankly! SS Rajamouli has a fan in me. He also says Sudeep is the best actor he's worked with, which I totally approve of. Sudeep did a fantastic job of acting against nothing in Eega.

The actor, who now wants to revive his action-star image, feels romantic-comedies in Bollywood have side-lined hero-oriented potboilers. “In the ’80s we made really hard-hitting films. Then with all those strong one-liners, the clapping and whistling in the theatres also disappeared. I’m happy all of that is coming back now; that’s what heroes are all about,” he says.

With Varun and Alia both coming from film families, did you ever feel like the odd one out?

Not at all! I am very happy with my parents and because of them I am where I am. My mother is a very big Yash Chopra fan. She kept on watching Silsila, Lamhe, Kabhie Kabhie, etc. She used to watch these films on the VHS tapes. Her impression is my impression of my childhood films. I was born on YRF films (laughs). She also used to watch a lot of Pakistani plays like 'Bakra Qisto Pe', etc. But I wasn't ragged by Varun nor Alia and nor Karan. They were too professional (laughs).

* I don't know what the most ridiculous part of this news blurb is - that Ranbir, Imran, and Neil are the new version of The Three Khans or that Vikram (and I quote) "couldn't justify his South superstar status in Mani Ratnam's Hindi version of Raavan." Um, what? WHAT? Them's fighting words.

* Who keeps giving Subhash Ghai money to make more movies?! The world doesn't need to be tortured with yet another bomb.

Trailer for Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola - which looks kind of fun! Although, even after all these years, Imran Khan's dancing is still pretty painful to watch...

I posted this yesterday on Twitter and FB but it's worth showing again... Imported Kamariya down South! Go, Scarlett go! I think you'll remember that I actually didn't like "Imported Kamariya" very much, so why do I like this? The difference is that "Imported Kamariya" was set up like a critical or at least ironic commentary on the practice of bringing in white girls to dance while but seemed to be more like an excuse to do just that! It left a sour taste. Meanwhile this track is a straight ahead item and I love seeing the item girl really jumping around and dancing instead of just standing around and writhing while looking "sexy" at the camera.